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erit: quod ipse dominus noster rex Francie hoc quod acquisivit et de eo quod Deus ipse dabit acquirere, ad opus suum retinebit quantum sibi placuerit, et hominibus suis, qui pro ipso terras suas amiserunt, dabit id quod sibi placuerit de terra Normannie. Actum apud Gornacum, anno Domini M° CC° secundo, mense julio.

NOTE B. JOHN'S LETTERS OF FEBRUARY, 1204, TO THE CLERGY AND LAITY IN IRELAND.

The following letter, which was endorsed upon the Charter Roll, 5 Joh. m. 15, (Rotuli Chartarum, ed. Hardy, 133b-134) was sent from Nottingham on February 10, 1204, to the clergy and laity in Ireland. It is important as giving an official version of the political situation after the king's return from Normandy. John calls upon the inhabitants of Ireland, not as a right (non consuetudinarie sed amicabiliter), to join the English in offering aid against the king of France. The following points in the letter should be noted. First, John refers with gratification to his reception in England and to the efforts which were made by the English on his behalf (see above, p. 392). Secondly, he emphasises the critical nature of the situation; he is not despondent but his needs are urgent. Other evidence shows that John was in no hurry, but, so far as this letter goes, it strengthens the view that he was planning a serious campaign in Normandy, and that his plans were interrupted by Philip's rapid and unexpected success. Thirdly, John speaks in general terms of his exhereditatio. The reference throws some light upon the problems discussed in this Appendix. The words used by the king, namely, that Philip, contrary to his charter and oath, continued to seek his deprivation, recall the similar

1. It should be noted, on the other hand. that the word exhereditatio had a very general meaning, as in the Vita S. Hugonis, p. 248, where the Archbishop of Canterbury is reported to have said in 1197 that Philip aimed at the exhereditatio of Richard. The word, however, is very rare in official correspondence, and seems to me to be used in a more judicial sense by John. See also above, p. 461, the phrase "per judicium exheredatus."

words used on July 7, 1202, to the Cistercian abbots (Rot. Pat., 14; above, p. 220). John had written to the Cistercians immediately after Philip had broken the treaty of 1200 in pursuance of a judgment given against John by the French court. In this later letter, of February 1204, John implies that Philip's campaign in 1203-4 was simply a continuation of his policy in 1202; in other words, it strengthens M. Bémont's contention that Normandy was included in the condemnation of 1202, and also my view that it is useless to look for evidence for or against the second condemnation in the records of 1203. Fourthly, John suggests a distinction in this letter between the service owed by the English across the English Channel and the voluntary aid which he hoped to receive from the clergy and laity of Ireland.

Rex, etc, archiepiscopis, episcopis, abbatibus, prioribus, archidiaconis et universo clero per Hiberniam constitutis salutem. Satis nostis sicut et totus mundus qualiter Rex Francie contra Deum et rationem et contra cartam suam et juramentum nos warrare et exhereditationem nostram querere non cessat. Nos autem propter hoc venimus in Angliam gratia Dei sani et incolumes, ubi omnes de regno Anglie nos honorifice receperunt sicut dominum, qui liberaliter et benigne habita consideratione ad urgentissimum negotium nostrum nobis efficax faciunt auxilium, tam in veniendo corporaliter in servicium. nostrum quam de militibus et pecunia. Quia igitur instat ista necessitas, qua nunquam nobis major emersit aut emergere poterit, vos non consuetudinarie sed amicabiliter rogamus quatinus sicut de vobis confidimus, et sicut nos et honorem nostrum diligitis, efficax nobis auxilium faciatis in hoc necessitatis nostre articulo sicut dilecti et fideles nostri justiciarius Hibernie, W. de Lascy, archidiaconus Staffordie, et alii nuncii nostri

1. Cf. Rot. Pat., 41b, for the presence of this favourite clerk in Ireland early in 1204.

cum eis ad vos venientes vobis dicent ex parte nostra vel aliquis de illis, si omnes interesse non possint, et tantum inde facientes quod vobis perpetuo teneamur obnoxiores, et quod debeamus vos merito exaudire in negociis vestris cum nos requisieritis; et certissime sciatis quod nunquam nobis ab illo auxilium fieri postulabimus qui nobis in hac tanta necessitate auxilium denegabit. Teste me ipso apud Notingham x die Februarii.

Sub eadem forma scribitur comitibus, baronibus, justiciariis, vicecomitibus, militibus, civibus, mercatoribus, burgensibus et liberetenentibus et omnibus aliis fidelibus suis per Hiberniam constitutis.

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II. The Division of the Norman Baronage.

A detailed study of Philip's confiscations in Normandy and of the Terrae Normannorum in England would demand a separate volume. Its author would require to be familiar with the records and chartularies of England and France, and also to be a trained genealogist and topographer. In this appendix I have only attempted to compare the lists of 1172 with the feodaries contained in the registers of Philip Augustus, and to reduce some order out of Stapleton's valuable Observations. The justification for a tentative inquiry may be found (1) in the fact that no methodical list of the barons who followed John and Philip respectively in 1204 has ever been attempted, and (2) in the interest which such a list may possess for the general student. For example, the history of the fiefs of Eu, Harcourt, Fontenai (Marmion), L'Aigle and Tillières illustrates the survival of double tenancy in England and Normandy after 1204. The history of some families, Hommet, Préaux, Tournebu, Traci, Vernon and Vieuxpont shows how the Anglo-Norman families fell apart after 1204, just as, in so many cases, they had fallen apart in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, into English and Norman lines.

The feodaries which are included in the Registers of Philip Augustus are exceedingly important. Register A contains a copy of the statement of knight service drawn up in 1172, with later additions; also a valuable list of Feoda Normannia which was compiled between 1204 and 1208.1 Register C contains a detailed list of knights' fees of the Cotentin 2; and Register E incorporates this in the most important document of all, the complete Scripta de feodis ad regem spectantibus.3 This last list presents a

1. Historiens de France, xxiii, 705-714. The entries relating to Guérin of Glapion show that it was compiled before Guérin's disgrace in 1208.

2. Ibid, 608g-612d. Register C was compiled 1211-1220. 3. Ibid, 608-681.

survey of Norman society as it was between 1210 and 1220. 1

All these documents, with several others of less interest, are edited in the twenty-third volume of the Recueil des historiens de France. Of other documents the most important are Philip's declaration of the lands added to his demesne in 1204 (Cartulaire Normand, No. 113), and the inquiry into the rights of the duke in ecclesiastical affairs, which contains a list of the Norman barons who formed the jury, and who were therefore adherents of Philip in 1205 (Ibid, No. 124). The articles of surrender which were drawn up at Rouen in 1204 (Teulet, Layettes i, 250) certain lists of pledges (e.g., Cartulaire Normand, Nos. 204-6) and the lists of barons who took part in important judgments, such as the division of the lands of Ralph Tesson in 1214 (Ibid, No. 230), are also useful. A great deal of scattered information is to be found in Delisle's Cartulaire Normand and Actes de Philippe Auguste; also, for the period before 1204, in Round's Calendar of Documents preserved in France.

On the English side, the valor of certain lands of the Normans in 1204 (Rotuli Normanniae, p. 122), the list of fees drawn up in 1212, and the Fine Rolls are especially valuable. For the history of the English baronies, however, the student should turn to the other records of the thirteenth century, the Chancery and plea rolls, the inquisitions post mortem, the Hundred Rolls; also to the more important county histories and peerages, and to the family histories, such as Gurney's Record of the House of Gournay, and Mr. Watson's papers in the Genealogist.

In the following list I have taken the chief fiefs of 1172 as a basis, and have started as a rule from the entry in the Red Book of the Exchequer, which contains the list of 1172. I have added the fiefs of some important officials, such as Richard of Fontenai, and Geoffrey of Sai.

Delisle compiled a useful list of the more important baronies, arranged according to dioceses (Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, xi, 400). I have found this helpful in making my selection.

1. See Delisle's Actes de Philippe Auguste, pp. vi-xxv, for the Registers. In the following pages I have for the sake of convenience treated the scripta de feodis as though they presented the state of society in 1220; but it should be remembered that this is the date of the register, not of the entries.

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